International Day of Happiness 20th March 2023: Goals, Theme and Figures

There is one major difference between a Human and Animal, Animals can’t express their Joy and Happiness with a cute smile, but a Human can always. But to bring a smile on someone face it costs a lot. Rate of Happiness is directly proportional to desire. Some people are happy because they have food to eat, clothes to wear and shelter to live. At the same time, there are some who are not happy because they only have food, clothing and shelter but not much money to spend on their wishes.

Happiness is not only limited at the individual level, but is also measured at the national level, such as how the country treats its citizens, the quality of life, the ability to provide basic facilities for a sustainable life. There are some criteria’s below on which happiness index is calculated for each country.

1. No Poverty – Still millions of people live in extreme Poverty.
2. Zero Hunger– Around 820 million people are undernourished in some countries, as well as huge amounts of food is wasted every year which can easily feed undernourished population.
3. Good Health and Quality Education – These are basic rights of every citizen and should be accessible to everyone easily to lead a sustainable life.
4. Gender Equality– Still in 20^th Century Gender Inequalities related issues are increasing. These gaps need to be reduced in order to empower our women and girls.
5. Clean water and Sanitation – 40% of world population is facing water scarcity and access to clean water is another big challenge.
6. Economic Growth – Growth of nation is directly dependent on the employment of its youth population. There should be enough job opportunities for youth to empower them.
7. Peace, Justice and Respect to Human Rights– So many people are forced to move out their country because of human rights violation and forced to live in refugee camps in other nations.

All the nations in worldwide needs to ensure above issues are addressed in a timely manner and every citizen gets a chance to live a sustainable life on this planet. To recognize the importance of happiness in people’s lives around the world, since 2013, the United Nations has been celebrating International Day of Happiness.

Bhutan was the first country which has initiated a resolution to celebrate the International Day of Happiness. There is one thing which differentiate Bhutan from the developed countries that Bhutan recognized the values of national happiness over national income.

As per the happiness progress card calculated between 2016 to 2018 below are the top five countries with high happiness index:

1. Finland (7.769)
2. Denmark(7.60)
3. Norway(7.554)
4. Iceland(7.494)
5. Netherlands(7.488)

Among the two highly populated country, China was placed at 93^rd position with happiness index(5.191) and India was placed at 140^th Position with happiness index (4.015).

International Day of Happiness 2023 Theme

This year the theme of International Day of Happiness 2023 is Mindful • Grateful • Kind

Let us take action to Build Back Happier and make people’s overall welfare our top concern as we continue to respond to the Covid pandemic.

Swikriti Dandotia